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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22811278">This Small Atonement</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aleighn/pseuds/aleighn'>aleighn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Afterlife, Atonement - Freeform, F/M, Fix-It, Forgiveness, Leia Organa is a queen don't tell me different, Redemption, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Reylo - Freeform, World Between Worlds, parent-child bonding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-29 01:26:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>575</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22811278</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aleighn/pseuds/aleighn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben Solo feels hope for the third time in twenty-four hours, and he thinks he could get used to it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>This Small Atonement</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm sorry, I wrote a TROS ending fix-it. Because there are *clearly* not enough already out there.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ben Solo dies with a smile on his face.</p><p><em>It is enough.</em> He thinks, as Rey's face slowly drifts out of focus, <em>It is enough that she lives</em>. The darkness takes him…and for the first time in his too-short life, it feels just a little bit like a welcoming embrace.</p><p>Gradually, he realizes he can see. Little pricks of light fill the dark expanse above him, reflecting off the ground he feels at his back. It gives him the oddest sensation of floating, suspended gracefully in the vast expanse of a universe.</p><p>“Ben.” He turns to the source. The voice is low and rasping, incredibly gentle.</p><p>“Mom.” She’s standing a few feet away, tiny yet powerfully luminescent in the starlight, in this place with no name. He feels tears coursing down his cheeks before he realizes that the weight in his chest is sadness. Remorse…love.</p><p>“Why?” It breaks from him as a sob. He knows now, a bone and soul-deep knowing, that her death was the catalyst of his freedom. She gave herself up in one final, ultimate attempt to bring him home. But after all he's done...he can't understand it, this sacrifice.</p><p>“My poor, sweet, boy.” She steps forward, all starlight, and reaches up to cradle his tearstained face in her palm. “Because I wanted to save what I love. Because I’ve failed you so many times…if I could give your life back through my death…well, maybe it’s a small atonement of sorts.”</p><p><em>This</em> <em>small</em> <em>atonement,</em> he thinks, <em>There’s</em> <em>nothing</em> <em>small</em> <em>about</em> <em>it</em>. He grips her tiny frame close, with sudden fierceness. “I’m sorry, about Dad…about everything.” She only holds him closer, and he feels something dark come loose inside, feels it fade</p><p>“I know, Ben. I know.” Her eyes are full of tears, but it feels like forgiveness.</p><p>She steps back with a quick sniff, ever the general, eyes shining but still all business. “Much as I’d love to keep chatting, son, you’ve got somewhere to be.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” He asks, confusion tracing furrows in his brow. He's dead, isn't he? Isn't this some sort of afterlife?</p><p>“Well, you can’t stay here, can you?” Leia Organa has perfected the withering look she gives him now, and Ben feels as though he’s a child all over again, being told off for yet another misdemeanor. His mother has a unique power to make grown men feel utterly foolish. “You’ve got unfinished business. Don’t tell me you were planning on leaving that beautiful young girl alone and heartbroken, after all you’ve put her through?”</p><p>Ben Solo feels hope for the third time in twenty-four hours, and he thinks he could get used to it. Now that he thinks about it, there’s a light that’s been growing in his peripheral vision while he’s been talking to his mother. It pulls at him. It’s a second chance, one he’s not sure he deserves, but one he’ll never stop fighting for. It’s a chance at atonement.</p><p>“Go.” Leia whispers, pulling his head down and pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. “May the force be with you both."</p><p>He opens his mouth, so much left to say, but the light overtakes him in a white blur, turning to gold like sunlight…and then everything comes into focus. She comes into focus, eyes filled with light, her smile shining like the sun.</p><p>“Rey.” When he kisses her, it feels like coming home.</p>
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